The Statesman - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Statesman, (291C to end, pp. 335-358) .Philosophy 190: PlatoFall, 2014Prof. Peter HadreasCourse website:http://www.sjsu.edu/people/peter.hadreas/courses/Plato

Plato

’

s Academy, a mosaic in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, (Photo: Giraudon)Slide2

Results of Recent Election 11/4/2014 on U. S. Senate1On November 4, 2014, thirty-three seats in the 100-member United States Senate were up for election as well as a few seats that were vacated early. The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate for the first time since 2006. Republicans needed a net gain of at least six seats to obtain a majority. Republicans successfully defended all of their seats, and picked up seven Democratic seats (Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia) by the end of the night, with the possibility of two more pick-ups. The race in Alaska wasn't called until a week later (an eighth Republican gain), while Louisiana will vote in a run-off election on December 6, because none of the candidates reached the required 50% threshold for victory during the primary. 1. paraphrased from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014Slide3

Results of Recent Election 11/4/2014 on U. S. House of Representatives1The elections for all 435 seats of the House of Representatives, Nov. 4, 2014, representing the 50 U.S. states resulted in the Republicans winning 15 seats from Democrats, while 3 Republican-held seats turned Democratic. Six remaining districts that are still too close to call (AZ-2, CA-7, CA-16, CA-26, LA-5, and LA-6), 4 have the possibility of changing hands from Democratic to Republican. If the Republicans can gain at least 1 of these 4 seats, then they will achieve their largest majority in the House since 1928.1. paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2014Slide4

Topic of the Statesman:What is the art of statesmanship and how might it be applied wellSlide5

The Paradigm of Weaving in the

Statesman

(279B, p. 321)

“VISITOR: So what model, involving the same activities [

pragmateia

] as statesmanship, on a very small scale, could one compare with it, and so discover in a satisfactory way what we are looking for? By Zeus what do you think? If there isn’t anything else at and, well, what about weaving? Do you want us to choose that? Not all of it, if you agree, since perhaps the weaving of cloth from wool will suffice; maybe it is part of it, if we choose it, which would provide testimony if we want.

YOUNG SOCRATES: I’ve certainly no objection.Slide6

The Paradigm of Weaving in the

Statesman

The Visitor does say (285E, p. 329):

“I certainly don’t suppose that anyone with any sense would want to hunt down the definition of

weaving

for the sake of weaving itself.” Slide7

How is Weaving like Statesmanshi

p

(279B, p. 321)

The Visitor says they are both activities or ‘

pragmateia

’. This word should be distinguished from knowledge:

epistēmē

or

gnōstikē

. It means diligence in business or in a practice.

Pragmateia

as ‘applied study’ is halfway between knowledge and practice.

1

Weaving like good politics provides protection against nature.

Clothes in general are to the body as the polis is to the citizen.

Statesmanship like weaving depends on other arts.

An analogy is drawn between the warp or hard threads and the spirited or hard-souled citizens and between the woof and soft threads and then gentle citizens. Various weaves are various blends of the two types of character.

1.

Thanks again to Rosen for this characterization of

pragmateia

. Rosen

, Stanley, Plato’s Statesman: The Web of Politics, (South Bend, IN: St, Augustine’s Press, 2009),

p. 101. Slide8

Raw wool that has been carded and made into ‘rolags’’Slide9

Engraving of Scotswomen singing a waulking song while waulking or fulling cloth, c. 1770.’Slide10

The Art of Fulling as Conducted in RomanTimes

“In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves working the cloth while ankle deep in tubs of human urine. Urine was so important to the fulling business that it was taxed. Stale urine, known as wash, was a source of ammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening the cloth

.”

1

1. Downloaded 11/8/

2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FullingSlide11

Woman spinning. Detail from an Ancient Greek attic white-ground oinochoe, ca. 490 BC, from Locri, Italy. British Museum, London.. Slide12

‘Weft’ and ‘woof’ are Old English words for ‘woven.’Slide13

Correction of First Diaeresis about Weaving(280B, p. 322)VISITOR: As for what comes next, let’s reflect that someone might perhaps supposed that weaving had been adequately described wen put like this, being unable o grasp that it had not been divided off from those cooperative arts that border on it when it had been parcelled off from many related ones.YOUNG SOCRATES: Tell me – which related ones?VISITOR: You didn’t follow what had been said, it seems, so it looks as if we must go back again starting from the end. If you grasp just now, separating off the putting together of blankets by means of the distinction between putting around and putting under.Slide14

First Diaeresis Leading to Weaving (279C-280E, 321-322)1. An applied study or ‘pragmateia’ is distinguished from a theoretical study.2. An applied study a ‘pragmateia’ is divided into those that are active, that is, those that are for doing something, and those that are defensive, those that are for a defense against suffering something.3. Defensive applied studies are divided into divine or human antidotes and protections.14. Defensive weapons are distinguished from protective screens.5. Defensive screens are divided into hangings or curtains and protections against the cold and heat.6. Protections against the cold and heat are divided into those that are attached to houses and those that make contact with the human body. 1. This would rule out the ‘divine shepherd of the Age of Cronus. Slide15

First Diaeresis Leading to Weaving(279C-280E, 321-322)7. Protection of the human body are divided into what is spread beneath such as carpets and what is wrapped around such as clothing and blankets.8. ‘Wrap-arounds’ are divided into those which are cut out in one piece and those which are compounded from several pieces.9. Those which are compounded from several pieces are divided into those which have perforations and those which do not.10. Unperforated wrap-arounds are divided into those that are made from plant fibers and those from animal hair.11. Lastly, wrap-arounds made from animal hair are either glued together with liquids or pastes or fastened together by themselves, hence woven. Slide16

WeavingMaterials other than wool from which clothes might be made: flax, esparto, skinsCoverings other than clothes: built shelters, protections from inflowing water, protections from thefts and violent acts, lid-making, doorsProtections other than those for defense: arming for warProtections other than human ones: art of magic, protective charmsExpanding the Previous Diaeresis with ‘Other than” groupsSlide17

Weaving: “if we proceeded to set it down as the as the finest and greatest of all those sorts of care that exist in relation to woolen clothing, p. 323, 281DcardingManufact-uring of warp and woof: spinningClothes-mending, ‘fulling’

Matting and felting

Expanding ‘weaving’ into its stages of production and related ‘cares’Slide18

WeavingcardingManufact-uring of warp and woof: spinningClothes-mending, ‘fulling’Spindles and shuttles281E, p. 324Consideration of contributing as opposed to primary causes of weaving

Washing and mending282A, p. 324Slide19

WeavingManufact-uring of warp and woof: spinningFocusing on the primary causes of weavingWarping-spinning: “. . . the yarn that has been twisted by the spindle and been made firm you’ll call the ‘warp. . .’ 282E, p. 325Woof-spinning: “But those threads that in their turn get a loose twisting, and have a softness appropriate to the softness of the warp . . . Slide20

The Art of Measurement

Its Two Types and the Assessment of Moral/Aesthetic/Political value

283B-287A, pp. 327-330

The Eleatic Visitor, considering whether he’s been going on too long, takes up a discussion of two kinds of measurement. (

metrētikē

). The first accords with the ordinary concept of measurement. We measure “number, lengths, depths, breadths and things in relation to what is opposed to them.” (284E, p. 328). “what is opposed to them’ implies some standard which is not being measure, but which is a criterion for the measuring, as a, inch foot or a mile – millimeter, kilometer -- might be for length, depth and breadth. Slide21

The Art of Measurement:

Its Two Types and the Assessment of Moral/Aesthetic/Political value

283B-287A, pp. 327-330

[continued from previous slide]

But the second type of measurement is the distinction, with very significant revision, that will become Aristotle’s notion of virtue as a mean between an excess and a deficiency. The Visitor introduces the notion by saying (283E, p. 326): “What about this: shan’t we also say that there really is such a thing as what exceeds in due measure [

πρὸς τὸ μέτριον,

pros to metrion

]

1

, and everything of that sort,

i

n what we say or what we do? Isn’t it just in respect that those of us who are bad and those of us who are good most differ?

YOUNG SOCRATES: It seems so.

1.

πρὸς τὸ μέτριον,

pros to

metrion

which Rowe translates as ‘due measure’ is

literally translated as ‘toward the mean.’Slide22

The Art of Measurement

283B-287A, pp. 327-330

[continued from previous slide]

VISITOR: In that case we must lay it down that the great and the small exist and are objects of judgment in these twin ways. It is not as we said just before, that we must suppose them to exist only in relation to each other. But rather as we have just now said, we should speak of their existing in one way in relation to each other, and in another in relation to what is in due measure. Do we want to know why?

YOUNG SOCRATES:

O

f course.

VISITOR: If someone will admit will admit the existence of the greater and everything of the sort in relation to nothing other than the less,

1

it will never be in relation to what is in due measure – you agree?

YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course.

1. NOTE: The visitor apparently doesn’t have the vocabulary to speak of parameters of measurement, such, meters, pounds, degrees of Centigrade, miles per hour, etc. , but his meaning is clear enough: we measure something by a lesser part of it, a degree Centigrade is an increment – lesser part – of heat, etc. But ‘due measure’ as in the sweater or shoe is the right size is something quite different. And Plato’s goal is clearly not to apply

due measure

to crafts but to find the

due measure

between an excess and and a deficiency in the actions of a statesman.Slide23

The Art of Measurement

283B-287A, pp. 327-330

[continued from previous slide]

VISITOR: Well, with this account of things we shall destroy – shan’t we? – both the various sorts of expertise themselves and their products, and in particular we shall make the one we are looking for now, statesmanship, disappear, and the one we said was weaving. For I imagine all sorts of expertise guard against what is more and less than what is in due measure, not as something which is not, but as something which is and is troublesome in relation to what they do. It is by preserving measure in this way that they produce all the good and fine things they produce.

YOUNG SOCRATES:

O

f course.

VISITOR: If, then, we make the art of statesmanship disappear, our search after that for the knowledge of kingship will lack any way forward?

YOUNG SOCRATES: Very much so.

1. NOTE: Unlike Aristotle, Plato applies the mean, as the ‘due measure,’ not only to the moral virtues but to acts of human production, to studied skills, to

technai

in general. Slide24

The Art of Measurement

283B-287A, pp. 325-330

[continued from previous slide]

VISITOR: Is it the case then just as with the sophist we compelled what is not into being as well as what is, when our argument escaped us down the route, so now we must compel the more and less, in their turn, to become measurable not only in relation to each other, but also in relation to the coming into being of what is due measure? For if this has not been agreed, it is certainly not possible for either the statesman or anyone else who possesses knowledge of practical subjects to acquire an undisputed existence.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Then now too we much do as much as we can.

VISITOR: This task, Socrates, is even greater than the former one – and we remember what the length of

that

was. Still, it’s very definitely fair to propose the following hypothesis about the subject in question.

YOUNG SOCRATES: What’s that?Slide25

The Art of Measurement

283B-287A, pp. 325-330

[continued from previous slide]

VISITOR: That at some time we shall need what I referred to just now for the sort of demonstration what would be commensurate with the precise truth itself. But so far as concerns what is presently being shown, quite adequately for our immediate purpose, the argument we are using seems to me to come to our aid in a magnificent fashion. Namely, we should surely suppose that it is similarly the case that all the various sorts of expertise exist, and at the same time that greater and less are measured not only in relation to each other but also in relation to the coming into being of what is in due measure. For if the latter is the case, then so is the former, and also if it is the case that the sorts of expertise exist, the other is the case too. But if one or the other is not the case, then neither of them will ever be.

YOUNG SOCRATES: This

m

uch is right, but what’s the next move after this?Slide26

The Art of Measurement

283B-287A, pp. 325-330

[continued from previous slide]

VISITOR: It’s clear that we should divide the art of measurement, cutting it in two in just the way we said, positing as one part of it, all those sorts of expertise that measure number, lengths, depths, breadths and speeds of things in relation what is opposed to them, and as the other, all those that measure in relation to what is due measure, what is fitting, the right moment, what is as it ought to be – everything that removes itself from the extremes to the middle.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Each of the two sections you refer to is indeed a large one, and very different from the other. Slide27

Shift From Diaeresis (Method of Successive Twofold Division) to Division into Natural Articulations (287B-D, p. 330)VISITOR: Well then, the king has been separated off from the many sorts of expertise that share his field – or rather from all of them concerned with herds; there remain, we are saying, those sorts of expertise in the city itself that are contributory causes and those that are causes, we must first divide from each other.YOUNG SOCRATES: Correct. VISITOR: So do you recognize that it is difficult to cut then into two? The cause, I think, will become evident if we proceed.YOUNG SOCRATES: Well, then what should we do.VISITOR: Then let’s divide them limb by limb, like a sacrificial animal, since can’t do it into two. For we must always cut into the nearest number so far as we can. (Method described in Phaedrus 265Eff.)Slide28

Narrowing in on Statesmanship by Separating it from ‘contributory’ – non-essential causes of the genesis of a city (287D-289C, pp. 330-332)List of Possessionstools (revised at 289B to make “currency, seals, and engravings” first on the list. (allusion to artifact closest to Forms?)receptaclesvehiclesdefensive bulwarksplaythings, toysraw materials: gold, silver, cut trees, basket weavings, skins, cork, papyrus – “the class of things not put together” 288E, p. 332. Removed in the list summary: 289B, p. 332) (source of Aristotle’s material cause?)bodily care-taking: farming, hunting, gymnastic training, doctoring and cooking. Slide29

Narrowing in on Statesmanship by Separating it from those groups of people most removed from Statesmanship (289D-291C, pp. 333-5)purchased slaves.free men who undergo voluntary servitude.wage-earners who serve anyone who’ll pay them.heralds, clerks and other such officials.Those who possess a servile knowledge of prophecy.Priests – places mentioned where this is a condition of kingship, for example in Egypt. Sophists – “Although removing him from among those who really are in possession of of the art of statesmanship and kingship is a very difficult thing to do, remove him we must if we are to plainly see what we are looking for.” (291C, p. 335)Slide30

Narrowing in on Statesmanship by Distinguishing Between Kinds of Rule in Cities(291C-292C, pp. 337-8)Monarchy: rule by one in accordance with lawAristocracy: rule by few in accordance with lawTyranny: lawless rule by one.Oligarchy: lawless rule by few.Democracy #1: rule by many in accordance with law.Democracy #2: lawless rule by many. (293E-294A, pp. 337-8) Ideal rule even without law: the kingly man who possesses practical wisdom, [φρονήσις, phrōnēsis] (See 302D, p. 347)Slide31

The Problem of the Statesmanship and Its Relation to Laws: A good statesman can make decisions taking into account human diversity and historical changes. The laws are general and relatively fixed. (294B, p. 338)VISITOR: That law could never accurately embrace what is best and most just for all at the same time, and so prescribe what is best. For the dissimilarities between human beings and their actions, and the fact the practically nothing in human affairs ever remains stable, prevent any expertise whatsoever from making any simply decision in any sphere that covers all cases and will last for all time. I suppose that’s something we agree about.YOUNG SOCRATES: CertainlySlide32

The Problem of the Statesmanship and Its Relation to Laws: Φρονήσις, phrōnēsis or practical wisdom is a character trait. It cannot be exercised by a group of people or by laws. (295B-d, p. 339)VISITOR: . . . For how could anyone ever be capable, Socrates, of sitting beside each individual perpetually throughout his life and accurately prescribing what is appropriate to him? Since in my view, if he were capable of this, anyone who had really acquired the expert knowledge of kingship would hardly put obstacles in his own way by writing down these laws we talked about. YOUNG SOCRATES: It certainly follows from what we have now said visitor. Slide33

The Problem of the Statesmanship and Its Relation to Laws: Φρονήσις, phrōnēsis or practical wisdom is a character trait. It cannot be exercised by a group of people or by laws. (295B-d, p. 339)VISITOR: Yes, but more, my good friend, from the things that are going to be said.YOUNG SOCRATES: And what are they?VISITOR: Things like the following. Are we to – that is, between us – that if a doctor, or else some gymnastic trainer, were going to be out of the country and away from his charges for what he thought would be a long time, and thought the people being trained, or his patients,, would not remember the instructions he had given them, he would want to write down reminders for them – or what are we to say? YOUNG SOCRATES: As you suggested. Slide34

The Problem of the Statesmanship and Its Relation to Laws: Φρονήσις, phrōnēsis or practical wisdom is a character trait. It cannot be exercised by a group of people or by laws. (295B-d, p. 339)VISITOR: But what if he came back unexpectedly, having been away for less time than he thought he would be? Do you think he wouldn’t propose other prescriptions, contrary to the ones he had written down, when things turned out to be different, and better, for his patients because of the winds or else some other of the things to come from Zeus which had come about contrary to expectation, in some different from the usual pattern? Would he obstinately think that neither he nor his patient should step outside those ancient laws that had once been laid down – he himself by giving other instructions, the patient by daring to do different tings than hade been written down – Slide35

The Problem of the Statesmanship and Its Relation to Laws: Φρονήσις, phrōnēsis or practical wisdom is a character trait. It cannot be exercised by a group of people or by laws. (295B-d, p. 339)VISITOR: [continued] on the grounds that these were the rules of the art of medicine and health and that, and that the things that happened differently were unhealthy and not part of his expertise? Or would all such things, if they happened in the context of truly expert knowledge, cause altogether the greatest ridicule, in all spheres, for legislation of this sort? YOUNG SOCRATES: Absolutely right.Slide36

Because Φρονήσις, phrōnēsis or practical wisdom cannot be enacted by a group “a second best method” (300C, p. 344) must be adopted: an imitation of who really possesses the art of statesmanship as encoded in a constitution. Whether it is a monarchy, aristocracy or democracy depends on its ability to imitate the genuine art of statesmanshipVISITOR: For these reasons, then, the second best method of proceeding for those who establish laws and written rules about anything whatsoever, is to allow neither individual nor mass ever to do anything contrary to these – anything whatsoever.YOUNG SOCRATES: CorrectVISITOR: Well, imitations of the truth of each and everything would be these, wouldn’t they – the things issuing from those who know which have been written down so far as they can be?Slide37

“a second best method” (300C, p. 344) must be adopted [continued]YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course.VISITOR: Now we said – if we remember – that the knowledgeable person – the one who really possesses the art of statesmanship, would do many things in relation to his own activity by using his own expertise, without taking any notice of the written laws, when things appear to him to be better, contrary to those that have been written down by him and given as order to people who are not currently with him.YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. That’s what we said.VISITOR: Well, any individual whatever or any large collection of people whatever for whom there are actually written laws established, who understand to do anything at all different, contrary to these, on the grounds that it is better, will be doing, won’t they the same thing as the true expert, so far as they can. Slide38

“a second best method” (300C, p. 344) must be adopted [continued]YOUNG SOCRATES: AbsolutelyVISITOR: Well then, if they were do such a thing without having expert knowledge, they would be undertaking to imitate what is true, but would imitate it altogether badly; but if they did it on the basis of expertise, this is no longer imitation but that very thing that is most truly what it sets out to be.YOUNG SOCRATES: I agree completely – I think.VISITOR: But it is established as agreed upon between us – we agreed to it before at any rate – that no large group of people is capable of acquiring any sort of expertise whatever.YOLUNG SOCRATES: Yes, it remains agreed.VISITOR: Then if same sort of kingly expertise exists, neither the collection of people that consist of the rich. Nor all the people together, could ever acquire this expert knowledge of statesmanship.Slide39

“a second best method” [continued] 301E302A, p. 346). . . VISITOR: But as thing are, when – as we say – a king does not come to be in cities as a king-bee is born in a hive, one individual immediately superior in body and mind, it is necessary – so it seems – for people for people to come together and write things down, chasing after the traces of the truest constitution. YOUNG SOCRATES: Possibly.Slide40

Visitor’s Solution to Impossibility of Collective

Phr

ō

n

ē

sis

(

304A, p. 248-9

) “VISITOR: Well, is seems that in the same way we have now separated off those things that are different from the expert knowledge of statesmanship, and those that are alien and hostile to it, and there remain those that are precious and related to it. Among those, I think, are generalship, the art of the judge and that part of rhetoric which in partnership with kingship persuades people of what is just and so helps in steering through the business of cities. . . .”

[continued]Slide41

Visitor’s Solution to Impossibility of Collective

Phr

ō

n

ē

sis

continued from previous slide]

(305A

, p

. 351) “VISITOR: If then one looks at all the sorts of expert knowledge that have been discussed, it must be observed that none of them has been declared to be statesmanship. For which is really kingship must not itself perform practical tasks, but control them with the capacity to perform them, because it knows when it is the right time to begin and set in motion the most important things in cities, and when it is the wrong time, and the others must do what has been prescribed for them.” Slide42

Conclusion:

The

a

rt of statesmanship, to the extent that it is a studied skill, that is

a

techn

ē

, cannot carry out the best form of measurement which is embedded in

phr

ō

n

ē

sis.

Furthermore the method of division or diaeresis cannot extract the art of statesmanship. The

correct weaving together of the

technai,

laws and care of the city is statesmanship. Slide43

Final Definition of the Art of Politics(305E, p. 351). . . VISITOR: For this reason, then, the sorts of expertise we have just examined control neither each other nor themselves, but each is concerned with some individual practical activity of its own, and in accordance with its individual nature of the activities in question has appropriately acquired a name that is individual to it. YOUNG SOCRATES: That seems so, at any rate.. . . VISITOR: Whereas the one that controls all of these, and the laws, and cares for every aspect of things in the city, weaving everything together in the most correct way – this, embracing its capacity with the appellation belonging to the whole, we would, it seems, most appropriately call statesmanship. YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes. AbsolutelySlide44

Results of Recent Election 11/4/2014 on U. S. Senate1On November 4, 2014, thirty-three seats in the 100-member United States Senate were up for election as well as a few seats that were vacated early. The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate for the first time since 2006. Republicans needed a net gain of at least six seats to obtain a majority. Republicans successfully defended all of their seats, and picked up seven Democratic seats (Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia) by the end of the night, with the possibility of two more pick-ups. The race in Alaska wasn't called until a week later (an eighth Republican gain), while Louisiana will vote in a run-off election on December 6, because none of the candidates reached the required 50% threshold for victory during the primary. 1. paraphrased from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014Slide45

Results of Recent Election 11/4/2014 on U. S. House of Representatives1The elections for all 435 seats of the House of Representatives, Nov. 4, 2014, representing the 50 U.S. states resulted in the Republicans winning 15 seats from Democrats, while 3 Republican-held seats turned Democratic. Six remaining districts that are still too close to call (AZ-2, CA-7, CA-16, CA-26, LA-5, and LA-6), 4 have the possibility of changing hands from Democratic to Republican. If the Republicans can gain at least 1 of these 4 seats, then they will achieve their largest majority in the House since 1928.1. paraphrased from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2014Slide46

Final Application of the Paradigm of the Weaver: Application to the Unity of the VirtuesSlide47

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing VirtuesIn the early and middle Platonic dialogues, the unity – or at least the harmony -- of the virtues is maintained as an acknowledgement advanced by their investigation. In the Statesman, the Eleatic Stranger argues that opposite virtues must be woven together by the statesman. It’s proposed that this position taken by the Eleatic Visitor is not inconsistent with Plato’s earlier view. The Statesman treats the ideal polis as a model or paradigm which guides the Statesman’s decision-making, but practically speaking there is no statesman’s art, so the statesman must rely on similacra. One of these lies is finding correct leadership through the weaving together military, oratorical and juridical arts. Another consists in the weaving together of courageous types of people with gentler but self-controlled and well ordered types of people. Slide48

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing VirtuesIn the early and middle Platonic dialogues, the unity – or at least the harmony -- of the virtues is maintained as an acknowledgement advanced by their investigation. In the Statesman, the Eleatic Stranger argues that opposite virtues must be woven together by the statesman. It’s proposed that this position taken by the Eleatic Visitor is not inconsistent with Plato’s earlier view. The Statesman treats the ideal polis as a model or paradigm which guides the Statesman’s decision-making, but practically speaking there is no statesman’s art, so the statesman must rely on similacra. One of these lies is finding correct leadership through the weaving together military, oratorical and juridical arts. Another consists in the weaving together of courageous types of people with gentler but self-controlled and well ordered types of people. Slide49

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: Then it seems that we should discuss the intertwining that belong to kingship – of what kind it is, and in what way it intertwines to rend us what sort of fabric.YOUNG SOCRATES: Clearly.VISITOR: What it seems we have to deal with, in that case, is certainly a difficult thing to show.YOUNG SOCRATES: But in any case we have to discuss it.VISITOR: To say that part of virtue is in a certain sense different in kind from virtue provides an all too easy target for those expert in disputing statements, if we view things in relation to what the majority of people think.YOUNG SOCRATES: I don’t understand. Slide50

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: I’ll put it again, like this. I imagine you think that courage, for us, constitutes one part of virtue.YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly.VISITOR: And also that moderation is something distinct from courage, but at the same time that this too is one part of what the other is part of.YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes.VISITOR: Well, we must take our courage in our hands and declare something astonishing in relation to these two.YOUNG SOCRATES: What? Slide51

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: That, in some sort of way, they are extremely hostile to each other and occupy opposed positions in many things.YOUNG SOCRATES: What do you mean?VISITOR: Not in any way the sort of people are used to saying. For certainly, I imagine, all of the parts of virtue are said to be amicably disposed towards each other, if anything is.YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes.VISITOR: Then we should look, with extremely close attention, to see whether this is unqualifiedly the case, or whether emphatically some aspects of them admit of dissent in some respect which what is related to them? YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes; please say how we should do so. Slide52

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: We should look at the matter in relation to all those things that we fall fine, but then go on to place them in two classes which are opposed to each other.YOUNG SOCRATES: Put it still more clearly.VISITOR: Sharpness and speed, whether in bodies, or in minds, or in the movement of the voice, whether belonging to the things themselves or as represented in images of them – all those imitations that music, and painting too, provide: have you ever either praised any of those yourself, or been present to hear some one else praising them?YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course.VISITOR: And do you remember how they do it in every one of the cases?YOUNG SOCRATES: I don’t at all. Slide53

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: When would I be able, I wonder, to show it to you in words just as I have it before my mind?YOUNG SOCRATES: Why not?VISITOR: You seem to think this kind of thing is easy; but in any case let’s consider the two opposite sort of case. Often, and in many activities, whenever we admire speed and vigour and sharpness, of mind and body, and again of voice, we peak in praise of it by using a single appellation, that of ‘courage’. [literally’ manliness’]YOUNG SOCRATES: How so? Slide54

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: I think we say ‘sharp and courageous’ – that’s a first example; and ‘fast and courageous’, and similarly ‘vigorous’. In every case it’s by applying the name I’m talking about in common to all these sorts of thing that we praise them.YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes.VISITOR: But again – in many activities, don’t we often praise the class of things that happen gently?YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, very much so.VISITOR: Well then, don’t we express this by saying the opposite of what we say of the other things?YOUNG SOCRATES: How so? Slide55

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: In that. I think, we say on each occasion that they are ‘quiet and moderate’, admiring things done in the mind, and in the sphere of actions themselves, that are slow and soft, and also things the voice does than turn out smooth and deep – and all the rhythmic movement, and the whole of music when it employs slowness at the right time. We apply them all the name, nor of courage, but of orderliness.YOUNG SOCRATES: Very trueVISITOR: And when, conversely, both of these sets of qualities occur at the wrong time, we change round and censure each of them, assigning them to opposite effect by the names we use.YOUNG SOCRATES: How?Slide56

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) VISITOR: By calling them ‘excessive and manic’ when they turn out sharper than is timely, and appear too fast and hard, and calling things that are too deep and slow and soft ‘cowardly and lethargic’. It’s pretty much a general rule that we find that these qualities and the moderate type as a whole, and the ‘courage’ of the opposite qualities do not mix with each other in relevant activities, as if they were sorts of things that had a warring stance allotted to them. Moreover we shall see that those who possess them in their souls are at odds with each other, if we go looking for them.YOUNG SOCRATES: Where do you mean us to look?Slide57

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) ) . . . VISITOR: In relation to the organization of life as a whole. For those who are especially orderly are always ready to live the quiet life, carrying on their private business on their own by themselves. They both associate with everyone in their own city on this basis, and similarly with cities outside their own, being ready to preserve peace of some sort in any way they can. As a result this passion of theirs, which is less timely than it should be, when they do what they want nobody notices that they are being unwarlike and making the young men the same, and that they are perpetually at the mercy of those who attack them. The consequence is that within a few years they themselves, their children, and the whole city together often becomes slaves instead of free men before they have noticed it. YOUNG SOCRATES: What you describe is a paining and terrifying thing to go through. Slide58

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) . . . VISITOR: But what about those who incline more towards courage? Isn’t it the case that they are always drawing their cities into some war or other because of their desire for a life of this sort, which is more vigorous than it should be, and that they make enemies of people who are both numerous and powerful, and either completely destroy their own fatherlands, or else make them slave and subjects of their enemies?YOUNG SOCRATES: This too is true.VISITOR: How then can we deny that in these things both of these classes of people always admit of hostility and dissent between them, even to the greatest degree?YOUNG SOCRATES: They is no way we shall deny it.Slide59

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) ) . . . VISITOR: First by fitting together that part of their soul that is eternal with a divine bond, in accordance with its kinship with the divine, and after the divine, in turn fitting together their mortal aspect with human bonds.YOUNG SOCRATES: Again what do you mean by this?VISITOR: I call divine when it come to be in souls, that opinion about what is fine, just and good, and the opposites of these, which is really true and is guaranteed: it belongs to the class of the more than human.YOUNG SOCRATES: That’s certainly a fitting view to take.Slide60

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) . . . VISITOR: By choosing the person who has both qualities to put in charge wherever there turns out to be a need for a single office, and by mixing together a part of each of these groups where there is a need for more than one. For the dispositions of moderate people when in office are markedly cautious, just and conservative, but they lack bite and practical keenness. YOUNG SOCRATES: That certainly seems to be the case.VISITOR: And the dispositions of the courageous, in their turn, are inferior to the others in relation to justice and caution, but have an exceptional degree of keenness when it comes to action. Everything in cities cannot go well either on the private or the public level, unless both of these groups are there to give their help.YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite. Slide61

The Weaving of Different Types of People with Opposing Virtues – Text (306A-311C, p. 351-358) . . . VISITOR: Then let us say that marks the completion of the fabric which is the product of the art of statesmanship: the weaving together with regular intertwining, of the disposition of the brave and moderate people -- when expertise belonging to the king brings their life together in agreement and friendship and makes it common between them, completing the most magnificent and best of all fabrics and covering with it all the other inhabitants of cities, both slave and free; and holds them together with this twining and rules and directs without, so far as it belongs to a city to be happy, falling short of that in any respect.OLDER SOCRATES: Another most excellent portrait, visitor, this one that you have completed for us, of the man who possess the art of kingship: the statesman.Slide62

Niccolò Machiavelli{1469 –1527) Slide63

Niccolò Machiavelli{1469 –1527)

Niccolò Machiavelli and the problem of the traditional moral virtues if practiced by a political leader. Slide64

The PrinceFrom Chapter XV“Therefore, putting on one side imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those which are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities which bring them either blame or praise;

and thus it is that one is reputed liberal, another miserly, . . one is reputed generous, one rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; one faithless, another faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, another bold and brave; one affable, another haughty; one lascivious, another chaste; one sincere, another cunning; one hard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another unbelieving, and the like.” Slide65

The PrinceFrom Chapter XV [continued]

“And I know that every one will confess that it would be most praiseworthy in a prince to exhibit all the above qualities that are considered good; but because they can neither be entirely possessed nor observed, for human conditions do not permit it, it is necessary for him to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his state; and also to keep himself, if it be possible, from those which would not lose him it; but this not being possible, he may with less hesitation abandon himself to them.” Slide66

The PrinceFrom Chapter XVI — Concerning Liberality And Meanness – selection“Therefore, any one wishing to maintain among men the name of liberal is obliged to avoid no attribute of magnificence; so that a prince thus inclined will consume in such acts all his property, and will be compelled in the end if he wish to

maintain the name of liberal, to unduly weigh down his people, and tax them, and do everything he can to get money. This will soon make him odious to his subjects, and becoming poor he will be little valued by any one; thus, with his liberality, having offended many and rewarded few, he is affected by the very first trouble and imperilled by whatever may be the first danger; recognizing this himself, and wishing to draw back from it, he runs at once into the reproach of being miserly.”Slide67

The PrinceFrom Chapter XVI — Concerning Liberality And Meanness – selection [continued]“Either you are a prince in fact, or in a way to become one. In the first case this liberality is dangerous, in the second it is very necessary to be considered liberal; and Caesar was one of those who wished to become pre-eminent in Rome;

but if he had survived after becoming so, and had not moderated his expenses, he would have destroyed his government. . . . And there is nothing wastes so rapidly as liberality, for even whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so, and so become either poor or despised, or else, in avoiding poverty, rapacious and hated. And a prince should guard himself, above all things, against being despised and hated; and liberality leads you to both. “Slide68

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections“Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the

reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont to injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only. . . . And of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince

1

to avoid the imputation of cruelty, owing to new states being full of dangers.” [Emphasis added]

1. Many commentators have argued that with

The Prince

Machiavelli addresses a state in a highly weakened an corrupt state that needs extraordinary methods to restore itself. Consider: "In fact, when there is combined under the same constitution a prince, a nobility, and the power of the people, then these three powers will watch and keep each other reciprocally in check." Book I, Chapter II,

Discourses on Livy

. Slide69

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections“Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared

l

oved? It

may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer you their blood, property, life, and children, as is said above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. Slide70

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections

And that prince who, relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.Slide71

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections

Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Slide72

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections

Besides, pretexts for taking away the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; but reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties

.Slide73

The PrinceChapter XVII — Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared -- selections

. . . .“Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others; he must endeavour only to avoid hatred, as is noted

.”Slide74

The PrinceChapter XVIII(*) — Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith  (*) "The present chapter has given greater offence than any other portion of Machiavelli's writings." Burd, "Il Principe," p. 297.

. . . Therefore

a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this non-observance. Of this endless modern examples could be given, showing how many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best.Slide75

The PrinceChapter XVIII(*) — Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith  (*) "The present chapter has given greater offence than any other portion of Machiavelli's writings." Burd, "Il Principe," p. 297.

. . . But

it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.

Alexander never did what he said,

Cesare

never said what he did.

(

Italian Proverb

.)Slide76

The PrinceChapter XVIII(*) — Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith  (*) "The present chapter has given greater offence than any other portion of Machiavelli's writings." Burd, "Il Principe," p. 297.

Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.Slide77

The PrinceChapter XVIII(*) — Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith  (*) "The present chapter has given greater offence than any other portion of Machiavelli's writings." Burd, "Il Principe," p. 297.

“And

you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to fidelity,(*) friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it

.”Slide78

The Prince Chapter XIX — That One Should Avoid Being Despised And Hated

 “Now, concerning the characteristics of which mention is made above, I have spoken of the more important ones, the others I wish to discuss briefly under this generality, that the prince must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches

.”Slide79

The Prince Chapter XIX — That One Should Avoid Being Despised And Hated

“It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.”Slide80

The Prince Chapter XIX — That One Should Avoid Being Despised And Hated

“It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him

.”Slide81

Slide #4; portrait of Napoleon,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon#mediaviewer/File:Jacques-Louis_David_-_The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries_-_Google_Art_Project.jpgSlide #5, photograph of Barack Obama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama#mediaviewer/File:President_Barack_Obama.jpg

Slide #7: schema of first two diaereses in Plato’s Statesman: http://publishing.cdlib.org/

ucpressebooks

/data/13030/

gn

/ft2199n7gn/figures/ft2199n7gn_00009.

gif

Slide

#

16: photograph

of ruins of Mycenae:

http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/the-royal-house-of-the-atreids-in-mycenae

/

slide

#20:

photograph of gold mask of Agamemnon: http://

www.artchive.com

/

artchive

/G/

greek

/

agamemnon.jpg.html

Slide #21: Vase painting portraying

Cronus:

http://www.john-uebersax.com/plato/myths/statesman.htm

Slide

#22: Cranach painting:

Golden Age of Man:

http://creativityandhealing-kalina.blogspot.com/2012/06/golden-age-ages-of-man-in-mythology-

and.htmlSlide82

Slide #25, etching fy Virgil Solis of the Iron Age: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virgil_Solis_-_Iron_Age.jpgSlide #?, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Fulling#mediaviewer/File:Waulking_18th_century_engraving.jpgSlide # 34, photograph of carded wool made into a ‘rolag’ and ready

for spinning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding#mediaviewer/File:Rolag.

jpg

Slide #35

, woman spinning and drawn on 5

th

century B. C. vase:

http://

en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/

Hand_spinning#mediaviewer

/File:Woman_spinning_BM_VaseD13.jpg

Slide

#37, and following,

portrait of Machiavelli: http://

en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli